Do you drink tea with or without milk and sugar?

I'm one of those people who has always started my day at work with the usual cup of coffee. I want to start drinking tea more often and get away from the morning cup of joe...I figure that black tea might be a good transition, but there are so many different kinds. Would anybody have any suggestions?

For a "reformed coffee drinker," in blacks I would suggest Assam from southern India and Keemun from China...they are both pretty robust and balmy...

There are two greens that may appeal to coffee drinkers as well. Roasted Hojicha and roasted kukicha from Japan. They both have a nice roasted flavor and aroma.

There are sooooo many teas, though...so just be willing to experiment and try new teas. If you evolve like most tea drinkers, your taste in tea will constantly change...one of the many great things about tea is the ability to change your cup of tea.

Thanks for the reply...I've tried a few Assams which I like a great deal, and I'm really looking to broaden my horizons and see what else is out there. I appreciate the suggestions...especially the green teas. I'm looking forward to trying them.

I'm looking to purchase the teas online, do you have any suggestions as to what place has good quality?

Yunnan area tea is a straight forward black tea, and like mentioned above Keemun is a little stronger and might suit your pallet better.

I have yet to order from adagio, I get my teas from sevencups.com as they specialize in Chinese grown teas. They list the region that the tea is grown in and the company that produces it among other things, so it may be a little intimidating to browse the tea names. If you contact them through their site they'll give you a recommendation among the teas they stock based on the kind of flavor or body you're looking for.

The whole with or without milk and sugar probably depends best upon how you drink your coffee. If you always drank your coffee with a lot of cream and sugar I'd recommend carrying that over to your black tea at first which can be decreased later on if you want. If you drank your coffee straight, I'd say try to tea straight and add milk and sugar to taste if needed. As to a good black tea I'd recommend the stronger ones like Assam and Irish Breakfast as good ones to start with.

jstevens wrote:I'm looking to purchase the teas online, do you have any suggestions as to what place has good quality?

Adagio is a great place to start trying teas. The quality is pretty consistently high (I don't think any one vendor excels at everything), they have a lot of uncensored customer reviews as you peruse their offerings, and the list of available teas is not soooo long as to be daunting. For instance, while Adagio has two Assams, Upton Teas has more than 50. For a novice that's too much choice, and you have to worry about how fresh all that stock is!

Also, as a former coffee drinker who always took it black, I find that a few drops of milk (especially in Assam) seems to give black tea a little more weight and can reduce bitterness. The Yunnan Gold is a very coffee-like tea, but the great thing about tea is the variety, and that's another great thing about Adagio, you can order samplers of everything.

Oh, by the way, I have no connection to Adagio except that I've bought from them after purchasing from maybe 5 or 6 other online vendors previously.

While I never use milk & sugar in tea, when I went to Wales this month, I found that I always did. Maybe it was a point of "when in Rome, do like the Romans", as my hosts always used milk & sugar....but I think the larger part was that any restaurant or home I went into used a general "bagged tea" that was not the special leaves of choie quality that I enjoy at home. As such, I found that I needed to cover up the taste of what was their regular (and wholly unpretentious) black tea.

Thanks for the responses, you have all given me a very good starting point. I'll experiment a bit with the milk and sugar and see what I like the best. I ordered a few Assam and Keemun teas.

I enjoy any information that you would care to share. I would like to learn a great deal about Tea, but it's tough to find the best place to start. I bought the book "The New Tea Companion" by Pettigrew and Richardson. It seems like a decent book.

In addition, I am from Qimen Black Tea Co.,ltd(wujiang office).
our factory is located at the origin of Keemun Tea------Qimen County,Anhui province.
we are a Chinese professional black tea maker.
we can offer about ten different grades of Keemun Tea.

You seem to be implying that it's ONLY keemun black tea that would provide these benefits. Is that correct? It would seem me that if these are benefits are true, they would be true in the case of more than just keemun.

Your question is very good!
I admit other teas have also some same functions as that of Keemun Tea,e.g.5.prevent memory loss;6.relieve stress;7.taste yummy.
but I need to state here that the first four functions are owned solely by Keemun Tea.

These four unique functions are closely inseparable with unique geographical environment of origin of Keemun Tea-----Qimen County,Anhui Province,China.

Firstly,its plantation is surrounded by branch range of Huangshan Moutain from the east to the west;to the northwest,Dahong Ridge and Lishan Moutain stands;Nanmu Ridge in the east;Jugen Ridge in the south.

Secondly,the area of mountain accounts for about 90% of the total area of Qimen County.Its average height above sea-level is about 600 meters.nearly 80% of tea plantation is situated at the valley zone that its average height above the sea-level ranges from 100 meters to 350 meters.the area of forest accounts for 80% of the total area.

Thirdly,there is big temperature difference between in the morning and in the night.Mist always wreathed the hills.Duration of Sunshine here is always very short.so it creates the best natural environment for grow up of Tea trees.

All the above metioned contribute to the success and excellence of Keemun Tea.

lenny7 wrote:You seem to be implying that it's ONLY keemun black tea that would provide these benefits. Is that correct? It would seem me that if these are benefits are true, they would be true in the case of more than just keemun.

I would be very interested in seeing the research data from which you are making these claims. You give reasons why you think Keemun tea is so great, but I see little to no link between these attributes and the benefits you suggest.

Aside from the fact that Keemun tea is made in China, why would Darjeeling teas not have the same benefits you list? They are also grown at high altitudes and temperatures in that area vary greatly between day and night, so if these characteristics have some impact on the health benefits of tea, why would these benefits not present themselves in teas grown in similar geographies?

Annual Rainfall from 1500mm to 2500mm is the best environment for tea growing,according to data issued by Authority.

5.Soil Condition: PH value:less than 4-----------------PH:5-6

The best soil condition for tea growing is about 4.5-6 in PH value.

And also the soil used in tea growing is loose and also full of some nutrient contents,e.g:Ferric Oxide,Iron Substrate etc.

All the above metioned contribute to those unique advantages distinguished from Darjeeling Tea and also other teas.

Yours Sincerely,
Peter

scruffmcgruff wrote:I would be very interested in seeing the research data from which you are making these claims. You give reasons why you think Keemun tea is so great, but I see little to no link between these attributes and the benefits you suggest.

Aside from the fact that Keemun tea is made in China, why would Darjeeling teas not have the same benefits you list? They are also grown at high altitudes and temperatures in that area vary greatly between day and night, so if these characteristics have some impact on the health benefits of tea, why would these benefits not present themselves in teas grown in similar geographies?